Series of electronic components of interest for the present disclosure are as follows.
(1) Series of electronic components having a plastic embossed tape as a package tape, wherein concave portions are formed in the plastic base member through embossing processing and, further, the openings of the concave portions are covered with a top tape in a state where electronic components are housed within the concave portions (refer to JP 63-23259 A, for example).
(2) Series of electronic components having a base member made of a cardboard which necessitates a relatively-lower material cost, as a carrier tape, wherein the carrier tape is provided with housing holes which penetrates it, and cover films (a top tape and a bottom tape) are attached, through a heat sealing method, to the opposite surfaces of the carrier tapes in a state where electronic components are housed within the concave portions (refer to JP 6-286715 A, for example).
(3) Series of electronic components having, as a package tape, a cardboard base material which has one main surface maintained to be flat and, further, has the other main surface provided with concave portions, wherein a lid member is attached thereto in such a way as to cover the openings of the concave portions in a state where electronic components are housed within the concave portions (refer to JP 10-338208 A, for example).
Currently, for coping with small-sized electronic components having a planner dimension of 0.6 mm×0.3 mm (hereinafter, which will be referred to as “0603 size”, in some cases) or smaller sizes, the main stream has been to employ the series of electronic components which is described in JP 10-338208 A, out of the series of electronic components which are described in JP 63-23259 A, JP 6-286715 A, and JP 3066370 B1. This is because the series of electronic components described in JP 63-23259 A and the series of electronic components described in JP 6-286715 A have inconveniences as follows.
At first, the series of electronic components described in JP 63-23259 A has the problem that the plastic embossed tape necessitates a relatively-higher material cost. On the other hand, in the series of electronic components described in JP 6-286715 A, the top tape is attached to the carrier tape only at its opposite side edges extending in the longitudinal direction, while the bottom tape is attached to the carrier tape over its entire surface except the portions of the housing holes. In this case, when the housing holes are made to have a reduced size for coping with size reduction of the electronic components to be housed therein, if the bottom tape is molten up to its portions for covering the housing holes during heat sealing, this may cause the electronic components housed therein to be adhered to the bottom tape.
However, even with the series of electronic components described in JP 10-338208 A, when the electronic components are picked up from the concave portions in the cardboard package tape, through suction with a suction nozzle, in a mounting process, there is no air passage in the bottom surfaces of the concave portions. This has induced the problem of difficulty of sucking them with the suction nozzle, in some cases. In order to overcome this problem, JP 3066370 B1 discloses a technique for providing air vent opening holes which penetrate the bottom surfaces of the concave portions.
However, when the electronic components to be housed therein have smaller sizes, such as a 0630 size or less, it is hard to form such air vent opening holes. This is because the ratio of the area of such opening holes to the area of the bottom surfaces of the housing holes should be increased and, furthermore, there is a risk of capture of the electronic components by the opening holes. Actually, JP 3066370 B1 makes no disclosure about the sizes of the electronic components to be housed therein.
Further, in the case of the series of electronic components described in JP 10-338208 A, it is necessary to employ, as a package tape, a cardboard base material which has one main surface maintained to be flat and, further, has the other main surface provided with concave portions. However, it should be noted that there are constraints on paper materials which enable such processing, thereby inducing the problem of larger material costs.